About things bamboo, mostly

Tag Archives: Phillipines

Made with a bamboo frame, WakkaWater is a proposed solution for water shortages in Ethiopia. These giant ‘bamboo vases’ are easily constructed with local materials and can collect nearly 100 litres (over 25 gallons) of potable water in a day.

Election time in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa, India provides a welcome boost to income for large numbers of people. Thousands of bamboo poles are needed to string party flags and banners, as well as frames and stands for campaigning. I wonder happens to all the bamboo after the election?

The Patwari family in the Narail district of Bangladesh make bamboo fish traps of a design so old that no-one remembers how it came about. Bamboo is cut into the thin strips to make the traps. The family can make 2 or 3 fish traps a day.

In the US? You could help support the red panda’s at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo with “I’m Not a Raccoon” Red Saison ale. The 6% alcohol traditional Belgian farmhouse ale is brewed with the main elements of the red panda diet – bamboo and mulberry leaves. DryBrew is donating a percentage of profits to the zoo’s Red Panda Wish List Fund

Malaysian artist ‘Red’ Hong Si created a portrait of Jackie Chan using 64,000 bamboo chopsticks. Read why on her blog. There is also a short video of her and Mr Chan himself in a chopstick duel.

An Irish explorer and his Vietnamese crew member were reunited 21 years after crossing the Pacific Ocean on a bamboo raft. Great looking craft. The book about the voyage, The China Voyage: Across The Pacific By Bamboo Raftwas published in 1996 and the Vietnamese translation was released this month. You can learn more about the vessel here.

More lovely bamboo accessories for ifolk. No electricity required for this portable speaker. The natural acoustics of the bamboo amplifies the sound. iBamboo portable speakers are available on Amazon, but not if you’re in Australia.

Sabang (Philippines), is probably most famous for it’s underground river. If you stay around longer than a day tour, you may see the bamboo walkway through the mangroves that leads to a bird watching area and trails to the mountainside forest.

And finally, for fans of strategic life simulation video games, the Sims 3 bamboo bedroom set. I marked it as ‘must have.’

Bamboo urinal: a self-contained and somewhat mobile, eco-friendly public urinal. The unit has three main components; planter module (with the growing bamboo); the water tank; and, the urinal and sink. One pees in the urinal (women can use a disposable funnel to achieve this). Once done, a foot pump draws water from the water tank for hand washing and urinal rinsing. The used water is pumped into the planter module/biofilter, where the bamboo is growing in a medium of rocks, wood chips and styrofoam. The water, nitrogen and phosphorous are used by the bamboo, while bacteria living in the growing medium break down carbohydrates and protein. There is reportedly little if any smell. A prototype was tested in a San Francisco neighbourhood and stood up to use by over 300 people within an 8 hour period, says Gizmag.

Bamboo shelters inside abandoned factory buildings is one solution for the housing shortage in Hong Kong offered by architects from AFFECT T. These are positively spacious compared to other barely-affordable options for Hong Kong’s poor workers.

More for bamboo sticks, these ones more high-tech: Bamboo ski poles and bamboo skis. As a resident of the wet tropics, I rarely get to see snow, let alone play in it. You will find a review of new bamboo skis here. They look gorgeous. Mobile art? Some of them are available on Amazon. Alternatively, there are some very interesting looking vintage bamboo skis and ski poles on eBay au.

The Saint Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas, The Phillipines, is now a designated National Treasure. The church is home to a famous bamboo organ, already a National Cultural Treasure. Pipe organ buffs will already be familiar with this historic instrument. People write books about it, write music for it, and record music played on it. There is a small book
and music selection on Amazon, and eBay au has a few records and CDs. If you’re too curious to hear the bamboo organ and can’t wait, here’s a YouTube clip for you: